Please join senior representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Council on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Department of Defense for a public listening session and discussions in Minnesota on conservation, recreation, and reconnecting people to the outdoors. The session will be held August 4 from 4:00 - 7:30 p.m. at Ted Mann Concert Hall, 2128 Fourth Street South, Minneapolis.

This past April, at the White House Conference on America's Great Outdoors, President Obama signed a memorandum establishing the America's Great Outdoors Initiative to develop a conservation agenda worthy of the 21st century and to reconnect Americans with our great outdoors. The President understands that protecting and restoring the lands and waters that we love and reconnecting people to the outdoors must happen at the local level.

Therefore, President Obama directed the principal leaders of the America's Great Outdoors Initiative to travel across the country to listen and learn from people directly involved in finding grassroots solutions to conserve our lands, waterways, historical and cultural resources, and reconnect Americans to the outdoors. The President indicated that the sessions should engage the full range of interested groups, including tribal leaders, farmers and ranchers, sportsmen, community park groups, foresters, youth groups, businesspeople, educators, State and local governments, recreation and conservation groups, and others.

This listening session in Minnesota offers an opportunity for us to engage in a conversation about the solutions you and your community have created to address the challenges and opportunities facing land and water conservation; for engaging people in outdoor activities; and in restoring and conserving our vital natural and cultural resources.

The public listening session and discussions on August 4 th provide an opportunity for the leaders of the America's Great Outdoors Initiative to hear from you and other voices in the region about solutions for building a 21st century conservation and recreation agenda and for reconnecting people with the outdoors. Please join us. Here are the details: